1,685 research outputs found
The Authors' reply - The dangers of mandating policy in the absence of clear evidence
No full textWe note the response from Morton Satin1 to our paper illustrating the potential cost-effectiveness and public health benefits from a reduction in salt in some processed foods.2 Mr Satin represents the view of the Salt Institute. He makes no secret of his affiliation with the salt industry and also reminds us that such affiliations do compromise objective interpretation of the evidence
Cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce dietary salt intake
No full textInterventions targeting portion size and energy density of food and beverage products have been identified as a promising approach for obesity prevention. This study modelled the potential cost-effectiveness of: a package size cap on single-serve sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) >375 mL ( package size cap ), and product reformulation to reduce energy content of packaged SSBs ( energy reduction ). The cost-effectiveness of each intervention was modelled for the 2010 Australia population using a multi-state life table Markov model with a lifetime time horizon. Long-term health outcomes were modelled from calculated changes in body mass index to their impact on Health-Adjusted Life Years (HALYs). Intervention costs were estimated from a limited societal perspective. Cost and health outcomes were discounted at 3%. Total intervention costs estimated in AUD 2010 were AUD 210 million. Both interventions resulted in reduced mean body weight ( package size cap : 0.12 kg; energy reduction : 0.23 kg); and HALYs gained ( package size cap : 73,883; energy reduction : 144,621). Cost offsets were estimated at AUD 750.8 million ( package size cap ) and AUD 1.4 billion ( energy reduction ). Cost-effectiveness analyses showed that both interventions were "dominant", and likely to result in long term cost savings and health benefits. A package size cap and kJ reduction of SSBs are likely to offer excellent "value for money" as obesity prevention measures in Australia
Exercise and life expectancy
No full textChi Pang Wen and colleagues (Oct 1, p 1244)1 report on the minimum amount of physical activity necessary for reduced mortality and extended life expectancy. Compared with individuals in the inactive group, those in the low-volume activity group reportedly had a 14% reduced risk of all-cause mortality and a 3-year longer life expectancy. We agree that any additional physical activity is worthwhile, but the reported decline in all-cause mortality and increase in life expectancy are not compatible.
On the basis of the 2009 Taiwan life tables, and using Wen and colleagues' mortality hazard ratios for the low activity group compared with the inactive group, we estimate that the life expectancy extension at age 30 years is 1·85 years for men and 0·96 years for women. Wen and colleagues therefore overestimate by 38% for men and 223% for women.No Full Tex
Removing the GST exemption for fresh fruits and vegetables could cost lives
No full textTo the Editor: There have been rumours that the current exemption from the goods and services tax (GST) for fresh foods, such as fruits and vegetables, might be removed.1 Changes in government are often accompanied by a review of policies, and broadening the tax base is appealing because it would increase efficiency and raise revenue. But what implications would a rise in the price of fruits and vegetables have for the Australian diet and health?No Full Tex
Dietary Salt Reduction, Prevalence of Hypertension and Avoidable Burden of Stroke in Vietnam: Modelling the Health and Economic Impacts
No full textDietary salt reduction has been recommended as a cost-effective population-wide strategy to prevent cardiovascular disease. The health and economic impact of salt consumption on the future burden of stroke in Vietnam is not known. Objective: To estimate the avoidable incidence of and deaths from stroke, as well as the healthy life years and healthcare costs that could be gained from reducing salt consumption in Vietnam. Methods: This was a macrosimulation health and economic impact assessment study. Data on blood pressure, salt consumption and stroke epidemiology were obtained from the Vietnam 2015 STEPS survey and the Global Burden of Disease study. A proportional multi-cohort multistate lifetable Markov model was used to estimate the impact of achieving the Vietnam national salt targets of 8 g/day by 2025 and 7 g/day by 2030, and to the 5 g/day WHO recommendation by 2030. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted to quantify the uncertainty in our projections. Results: If the 8 g/day, 7 g/day, and 5 g/day targets were achieved, the prevalence of hypertension could reduce by 1.2% (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 0.5 to 2.3), 2.0% (95% UI: 0.8 to 3.6), and 3.5% (95% UI: 1.5 to 6.3), respectively. This would translate, respectively, to over 80,000, 180,000, and 257,000 incident strokes and over 18,000, 55,000, and 73,000 stroke deaths averted. By 2025, over 56,554 stroke-related health-adjusted life years (HALYs) could be gained while saving over US 88.1 million and US$ 122.3 million in stroke healthcare costs respectively. Conclusion: Achieving the national salt reduction targets could result in substantial population health and economic benefits. Estimated gains were larger if the WHO salt targets were attained and if changes can be sustained over the longer term. Future work should consider the equity impacts of specific salt reduction programs.Full Tex
»LJ« Artist book
No full textThe thesis paper deals with the artist book, an art form that has become a part of the university curriculum since the beginning of my university studies. It is most closely connected with the fields of sketch and photography. Both personl sketch and the field of photography have been of particular interest to me during my university years and I prepared an exhibition on the subject, presented by Faculty of Education Gallery. This thesis covers the historical and theoretical background of the artist book and maps the creation of my own artist book, an artistic superaddition titled LJ.
Some of the pioneers of the artist book are also mentioned, including Ed Ruscha, the author of the Twenty Six Gasoline Stations. He was one of the first artist to draw attention to the various artistic possibilities of this art form intertwining different graphic components including sketch, photography, font, paper characteristic, and other visual effects. Franc zagoričnik is presented as a native artist interested in the art form. He was a member of the OHO group, which reached the same conclusions as Ruscha in the 1970s.
The thesis places the artist book within the field of education, since this particular pedagogical approach has been shown to give the pupil freedom of choice and thus enrich his sensibilty to artistic expression. Pratical reasearch was conducted at a high school in Koper, while theoretical research heavily relied on the MGLC library, which is the only Slovene library to carry contemporary literature on this particular art form
Correction to: Photoacoustic Measurements of the Thermal and Elastic Properties of n-Type Silicon Using Neural Networks (Silicon, (2020), 12, 6, (1289-1300), 10.1007/s12633-019-00213-6)
No full textThe original version of the article unfortunately contained an error. © 2020, Springer Nature B.V.
The author name ‘Кatarina Lj. Djordjevic’ was inadvertently
captured twice. The correct author group is shown above.Link to the corrected article: [https://vinar.vin.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/8759
Episodic encoding is more than the sum of its parts: An fMRI investigation of multifeatural contextual encoding
No full textEpisodic memories are characterized by their contextual richness, yet little is known about how the various features comprising an episode are brought together in memory. Here we employed fMRI and a multidimensional source memory procedure to investigate processes supporting the mnemonic binding of item and contextual information. Volunteers were scanned while encoding items for which the contextual features (color and location) varied independently, allowing activity elicited at the time of study to be segregated according to whether both, one, or neither feature was successfully retrieved on a later memory test. Activity uniquely associated with successful encoding of both features was identified in the intra-parietal sulcus, a region strongly implicated in the support of attentionally mediated perceptual binding. The findings suggest that the encoding of disparate features of an episode into a common memory representation requires that the features be conjoined in a common perceptual representation when the episode is initially experienced
On the vapor-liquid equilibrium of attractive chain fluids with variable degree of molecular flexibility
No full textWe study the isotropic (vapor and liquid) phase behavior of attractive chain fluids. Special emphasis is placed on the role of molecular flexibility, which is studied by means of a rod-coil model. Two new equations of state (EoSs) are developed for square-well- (SW) and Lennard-Jones (LJ) chain fluids. The EoSs are developed by applying the perturbation theory of Barker and Henderson (BH) to a reference fluid of hard chain molecules. The novelty of the approach is based on (1) the use of a recently developed hard-chain reference EoS that explicitly incorporates the effects of molecular flexibility, (2) the use of recent molecular simulation data for the radial distribution function of hard-chain fluids, and (3) a newly developed effective segment size, which effectively accounts for the soft repulsion between segments of LJ chains. It is shown that the effective segment size needs to be temperature-, density-, and chain-length dependent. To obtain a simplified analytical EoS, the perturbation terms are fitted by polynomials in density (SW and LJ), chain length (SW and LJ), and temperature (only for LJ). It is shown that the equations of state result in an accurate description of molecular simulation data for vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) and isotherms of fully flexible SW- and LJ chain fluids and their mixtures. To evaluate the performance of the equations of state in describing the effects of molecular flexibility on VLE, we present new Monte Carlo simulation results for the VLE of rigid linear- and partially flexible SW- and LJ chain fluids. For SW chains, the developed EoS is in a good agreement with simulation results. For increased rigidity of the chains, both theory and simulations predict an increase of the VL density difference and a slight increase of the VL critical temperature. For LJ chains, the EoS proves incapable of reproducing part of these trends.Process and EnergyMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
The reality of media freedom in Swaziland under the new constitutional dispensation
No full textThe study concludes that there is still lack of media freedom in Swaziland under the new constitutional dispensation. Its significant finding is that the lack of media freedom is a consequence of constitutional, legal and extra-legal constraints
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